Bloodlines.....Kisia H

This post starts a short series on some of the bloodlines in our program. The gorgeous mare pictured here is my first Andalusian mare, Kisia H. Kisia is PRE inscribed with ANCCE & of course registered with IALHA. Born late 2006, Kisia was purchased in utero & came here at five months old. I've had the honor of raising & enjoying her most of her life. Primarily a riding horse, she produced her first foal, a filly by Klickitat, this year.

Kisia's bloodlines are excellent with her sire being bred at Cortijo Las Morerias in Mexico. Las Morerias is one of the most famous breeding programs in Mexico having won numerous titles in Mexico & the USA. Kisia's sire Gitano MOR, himself a many times IALHA National Champion, is a son of Corsario IV who is considered the most honored Mexican stallion. Corsario IV was a son of the qualified mare Bizarra XVI & the stallion Macanuo III both of whom are of Jose luis de la Escalera breeding. Gitano MOR has sired several national champion get himself. He possess great beauty & is stunningly masculine with the presence & charisma of true breeding stallion. Gitano has a powerful pedigree which mostly consists of Escalera & Military breeding. He also has many famous siblings & relatives as his lines are prominent in the Las Morerias breeding program.

Kisia's damline is also impressive. Her dam, Habana H, was bred by one of our favorite programs, Heradurra Andalusians. Habana is an exceptional moving & powerful mare. This is no surprise considering Habana's sire is the famous & now deceased stallion Remate II. I was graced to have had the opportunity to meet Remate. He was known to pass on elegance & movement to his get which continues to show up even in later generations. Remate, who was a several times IALHA national champion, was a son of Champion of Spain, Jugueton V. Jugueton V was bred by Miguel Cardenas who is probably the most famous breeder of the PRE horse of our day. Habana's mother & Kisia's grandam was a mare named Jibara IV. On our first visit to Heradurra, Jibara was one of my favorite mares. A lovely bay mare who carried bloodlines of Paco Lazo, Terry, Military & rare Muira breeding.

Kisia was lightly started at three years old. She & I then spent the next year lightly riding, mostly trail type riding around our property. She spent three months at four years old at the Mid-South Dressage academy with one of their excellent senior trainers for some real education. From four to five we attended several clinics in our area, had some dressage lessons & even spent a month in FL where we attended a two week course in Natural Horsemanship for fun & learning. Thanks to excellent breeders & trainers mentioned here, Kisia is a brave, athletic & powerful mare. She has many fine qualities of her forebears. She has outproduced herself in her 2013 daughter which in itself is a mark of her excellent quality. We've started back riding & look forward to getting out again when her daughter is weaned.

Alfredo Hernandez Clinic

Recently, I had the opportunity to audit a clinic with Alfredo Hernandez. It was a super learning experience, even from the bench! This clinician is a charismatic Spaniard who specializes in training Piaffe & Passage. I was able to observe him instruct horse/rider teams of several levels from a 4 year old green mare all the way to several horses showing Grand Prix in dressage. How fascinating to see his approach to solving issues that are thought of in terms of the basics by incorporating these upper level but classical movements into the horse's training program. For example, a lovely dressage pony with tons of front end elevation was having a hard time with extensions. Alfredo used Spanish walk to help him learn to lift at the shoulder rather than just the knee. There were several other similar examples. This was a very different type of learning from the usual dressage clinics I've attended in the past. Here are a few "tidbits" I found particularly useful from his instructions. Please note that these are not direct quotes but quick notes I took as watching. So these statements are through my own understanding of the training & should not be taken as exactly from Senor Hernandez. I do my best to take precise notes but this learning is through my own eyes as the observer...."The most important thing is for the horse to be comfortable, To improve a fast tempo, you want to get the hind legs stepping under, The horse should understand that the whip does not always mean forward, The horse should understand contact vs reins mean stop, Jumping once a month can loosen the back for a dressage horse, Don't get into a fight with the horse, Lameness can result from lack of enough transitions in training, Don't get comfortable & neglect to ride every step of the movement, If the horse is slow to react to a request you should work on this first, Don't ride with the whip if the horse relies on it too much, Use a different "cluck" for different movements so you don't confuse the horse." There was so much more I learned that is hard to put into writing. I found Senor Hernandez to be much like an artist & quite organic in his teaching. He used several patterns to teach the horse & rider. He was adept at "the release" & quick to remove all pressure when the horse "got it". I would jump at the opportunity to attend another clinic & love to one day attend with one of my girls.